Award-losing commentary on books, authors and publishing.

July 08, 2008

First half of 2008

It's hard to believe that the first half of 2008 is already in the bag. Time flies, huh? I read 66 books during the first 6 months of the year. I was going to say that's off my usual pace, but I just looked and saw that I also read 66 books the first half of last year.

It seems like a so-so year thus far. I've read some good books, but nothing that's blown me away. If I had to pick, I suppose the best thing I've read in 2008 is Michael Connelly's The Brass Verdict, a book I enjoyed a lot. But it's not one of those books that makes you jump out of your chair.

Now that I think about it, I haven't jumped out of my chair in a long time. I was talking with a friend recently and he said the best book he'd read so far in 2008 was a book that came out almost ten years ago, that he'd already read a couple times before. I know how he felt. Either I'm getting pickier or the crime novels being published these days just aren't the best.

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good stuff out there (emphasis on good, not great). A lot of competent books with good writing and good stories. But the greatness factor seems to be lacking. Surely during a six-month stretch of time there should be at least one great crime novel published -- but if there was, I didn't read it.

What do you think? Have you read anything great so far this year? What am I missing?

Comments

The bar has definitely been lowered. I'm sure many will show up here saying it's the best time ever for crime fiction, but they're just trying to make themselves feel better.

So many books are being published now that it's impossible for the bar not to drop. Add to that the fact that the pub industry has become (sadly) so much like Hollywood - where opening weekends and tent pole products mean everything, that brand name authors are cranking out mediocre stuff simply to meet the demand.

Thank God we still have the Burkes and Pelecanos out there who continue to put the art before the commerce.

I have to think you are referring only to American crime writing. Those of us who read European crime fiction are rolling over in the clover these days: Vargas, Nesbo, Theorin, Mankell, Camilleri, Tursten, Alvtegen, Suter, Perez-Reverte, Fossum, Akunin...an embarrassment of riches and not enough time.

I think Guyot is right -- the bar has been lowered. There are so many books being published that the overall level of quality is bound to suffer. But there still should be some greatness, some cream rising to the top.

On the other hand, I actually find myself agreeing with Cosmo, no pants and all. There have always been good books and lousy books and never enough great ones.

I've never been particularly impressed with the European crime fiction I've tried, but that's probably just a matter of taste.

Whether or not it's the best or not is debatable. My favorite new book this year is Christa Faust's Money Shot. My favorite old books (I'm self-educating myself on the back catalogue of crime fiction) are Day Keene's Home is the Sailor and The Sins of the Father by Lawrence Block. But, with new Lehane and Pelecanos on the horizon, I'm hopeful.

I was in a reading rut for two months. For the first time in my life, nothing appealed to me. I basically just re-read some Irving and Dickens and Bronte. Maybe I'm in the mood for fiction that returns to the model of exploring a whole life again.

Brett Battles got me out of that rut with The Cleaner. I just started reading Jeffrey Deaver. I've read some other things, but I've already forgotten what they are. Not a good sign, LOL.

The one book that I have read this year that has stood out is Johan Theoren's Echoes From the Dead. It was voted Best First Mystery Novel by the writers and critics of the Swedish Academy of Crime and the country of Henning Mankell and Sjowall and Wahloo know something about crime fiction.

The return of Wambaugh to fiction. Two Minute Rule by Crais, Grady's Mad Dogs, Henry Chang's Chinatown Beat, Dope by Sara Gran, The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson, Winter of Frankie Machine by Winslow, Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone, The Night Gardener by Pelecanos, The Prisoner of Guantánamo by Dan Fesperman, Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell, Zero to The Bone by Robert Everz.

Generally speaking, I agree that there's plenty of good stuff but nothing great. Because I'm between first drafts (I don't like to read mysteries when I'm writing them), I've been gorging on books everybody swore I would love. But I don't. Crais's THE WATCHMAN was overrated; the new Jack Reacher was so-so; and Pelecanos left me cold. I did enjoy Swierczynski's SEVERANCE PACKAGE, but I believe it was published in 2007.

I'm not complaining, though, as I have a permanent fallback: when in doubt, reread a Travis McGee!

Geez, Louise -- or David, as the case may be. Any six months that includes Nina Revoyr's THE AGE OF DREAMING, C.J. Box's BLUE HEAVEN, THE FOREIGNER by Francie Lin, Michael Genelin's SIREN OF THE WATERS, Don Winslow's THE DAWN PATROL and Gene Kerrigans LITTLE CRIMINALS is by me a terrific first half. (Not to mention soon upcoming Chicago winners GOOD PEOPLE and THE FIFTH FLOOR.)

I thought CHILD 44 was a waste of time and money - and one of the most pretentious and smug books I've read in a long, long time. The author treated the reader as if we were too dumb to get what he had to say about pre-Stalin Russia and repeated the mind set over, and over and over until I wanted throw the book against the wall. And then, he further introuded (as the author) and used 'in short' at least seven million times. I mean, come on here - we're not that dense,okay? We colonists are pretty quick.

And then the ending? Oh, please - that must have been a 'beat the deadline' dump.

One remembers that our life seems to be high priced, nevertheless different people need money for different things and not every man gets big sums cash. Therefore to get quick home loans or just small business loan would be good way out.

About Me

David J. Montgomery is a writer and critic specializing in books and publishing. He is an emeritus columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and The Daily Beast, and has also written for USA Today, the Washington Post, and other fine publications. A former professor of History, he lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and two daughters.